St. Lawrence Academy - Santa Clara

This school is the hidden gem of the Silicon Valley. The small community along with stellar teachers equals to an amazing high school experience unlike any other. The school has a reputation of letting freshman in easily during the admissions process, compared to schools like Bellarmine, Saint Francis, or Mitty. However, these schools cannot even hold a candle up to the tight knit, and highly competitive society that Saint Lawrence has created for it's students. The athletics program is highly successful in it's league and consistently strives to perform better in events, as to bolster the schools reputation. The school's bad reputation comes from jealous Bellarmine and Mitty students who cannot succeed at their own school, so they feel the need to put down smaller schools. All in all, if you want your child to be successful, get into a good college, and overall be a well rounded individual, send them to Saint Lawrence Academy. You won't regret it! Celtics Pride!
--Submitted by a student

Small classes, strong teachers, great opportunities for students. I found this school to be an excellent place for students to excel. Everybody knows everybody here there is a very strong family dynamic.The athletics are seriously under rated. The Cross team has made the state tournament nine of the last eleven years. This is a great school.
--Submitted by a parent

& p.s of course juinors and seinors get privlages. If you go to any other school you'd see that. They don't offer as many classes because of how small the school is.

Sla is very tight knit, everyone knows everyone and teachers are real in touch with the students you don't go to sla for amazing academics or for great sports you go because the school is like a family. Some things are unfair, but honestly life is all about unfairness not everything is going to be fair you've just gotta learn to pick your battles and move on.
--Submitted by a student

I honestly dislike this school 1) Kids are bad; bullies and spoiled people mostly (except a few) 2) The teachers are less than satisfactory In all fairness, there are some good teachers and the principal is much more understanding than the Dean
--Submitted by a student

I'm a former student of SLA and I have to say: -Not enough classes to offered. AP/Honors classes are basically available to only juniors and seniors. -Administration practices favoritism on the juniors and seniors. Seniors get a separate line (shorter and faster, mind you) in the cafeteria. Both juniors and seniors can get student of the month award, while the other two classes don't. What are they trying to do? Ruin the freshmen and sophomores' experiences in high school? -Laptops are a waste of time. There's no point to having them except taking computer-related classes. The most likely reason you pay $800 a month to the school is because the school pays the taxes to keep them. -Like the other reviewer said, the only person you can be there is the bullied or the bully. -Cafteria meals are average or bad. Refer to my next post for more info.

I graduated from SLA three years ago. I didn't appreciate it when I was there, but I found that I was very well prepared for my years at Santa Clara University. One of my religion teachers took the time to make corrections in spelling, punctuation and grammar. He was my best English teacher, even though he did not teach English at the school. I also learned a lot about life. I learned that life is often difficult, but that we have the ability to overcome the challenges we face. I learned that life isn't always fair, but we can learn to accept the way things are and make the most of it. I learned that it is important to be aware of the needs of others, especially the poor, and that we have a responsibility to help people who don't have what we have. I learned a lot at SLA.
--Submitted by a student

I have just started with st. Lawrence and my son has been loving it. His teacher is friendly out going and patient. Yes some parents can not partipate in everything because of the economy today, but that why we have excellent teachers. Out all the teachers I have met mrs credi is the top of the line.
--Submitted by a parent

this is a great school- diverse enough (not just while and catholic ), but high regard for parental participation and achedemics
--Submitted by a parent

Not too many class offered. Extracurrucular activities were limited. Parent involvement was over all good.
--Submitted by a former student